for attempting to blackmail Melinda, who found out about her illiteracy. It is what triggers the climax of the film, which sees Sophie and Jeanne seize Georges’ shotguns and murder the family who were watching an opera on television. Jeanne leaves the crime scene and is killed in a car accident by the priest who had fired her from the charity she worked for. Sophie, for her part, walks away from the house after having wiped their fingerprints off the guns, making her way through the police squads at the accident. The end credits begin with the music of the opera that is being played back by a policeman on Melinda's tape-recorder, which Jeanne stole and put in her car. At the end of the credits, the gunshots can be heard on the tape and then the voices of Jeanne and Sophie, constituting evidence against them. Chabrol presents an ambiguous view of culture and class conflict in this film, which he jokingly called "the last Marxist film." Reviews Rotten Tomatoes reports 93% approval for La Cérémonie, with 26 of 28 reviews positive. On 17 April 2012, Roger Ebert added La Cérémonie to his list of "Great Movies". The Guardian included La Cérémonie at #16 in its "25 Best Crime Films of All Time". Craig Williams on the BFI website calls it "perhaps Chabrol’s greatest achievement", and "the consummate example of Chabrol’s genius – a ruthlessly exacting vision of class indebted to both the pulp aesthetic... and French literary tradition." The Criterion Collection called La Cérémonie "a must-see late-career triumph [...] [that] exemplifies the New Wave auteur’s mastery of suspense and twisted psychodrama." The film is available on the Criterion Channel for streaming. Awards and nominations César Awards (France) Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Isabelle Huppert) Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Jean-Pierre Cassel) Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (Sandrine Bonnaire) Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Jacqueline Bisset) Nominated: Best Director (Claude Chabrol) Nominated: Best Film Nominated: Best Writing (Claude Chabrol and Caroline Eliacheff) Los Angeles Film Critics (USA) Won: Best Foreign Language Film (Claude Chabrol) National Society of Film Critics (USA) Won: Best Foreign Language Film Satellite Awards (USA) Nominated: Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language Toronto International Film Festival (Canada) Won: Metro Media Award (Claude Chabrol) Venice Film Festival (Italy) Won: Volpi Cup – Best Actress (Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert) Nominated: Golden Lion (Claude Chabrol)